


The King's Last Request

by poisonous_panda



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Citadel, Gen, Grieving, Insomnia, Mourning, Post-Game, Ten Years of Darkness, World of Ruin, black chocobo, burial, chocobo - Freeform, syllelblossem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 04:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12762948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonous_panda/pseuds/poisonous_panda
Summary: Based on my headcannon that Ardyn adopted the black chocobo chick the bros saved because she reminded him of his original "dear girl". Imagine if the bros found her after the final fight when they go to retrieve Noct's body...(Aurora is Latin for dawn)





	The King's Last Request

Prompto jammed his gloved hands over his mouth to stifle his loud gasp, but it was in vain. The sharp intake of breath was amplified in this large room because of the high ceiling, the still air and the heavy sense of grief the three friends shared among themselves; all three of them feeling like their hearts were in an Iron Giant's fist.

Up there on the throne, sat their king. The King of Light. Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIIII, the last of his line.

With his father's bloodied sword impaled through his chest.

His blood-splattered black suit was otherwise intact, and the blazer was still buttoned up. He was sitting rather comfortably; legs spaced evenly apart with his arms resting on their designated arm rests... If only he weren't slumped over the weapon that had run through him. The only movement for a few seconds was Noctis' long black hair rustling slightly from the tender touch of the chilly breeze lazily blowing through the crumbled wall to the dead King's right. It was almost freezing, and the three last remaining Kingsglaive shivered in their large black leather trench coats. 

"Noct... sits the throne?" Ignis asks quietly while uncharacteristically swirling his daggers between his fingers, as if raising his voice to normal levels would shatter the battle-weary men, and the feel of the daggers he was playing with were the only things making him feel real in this devastating moment.

"Y... Yeah." Prompto answers, trying to keep a brave face, although Gladio is giving him a sidelong glance and noting the tears filling the younger man's ocean blue eyes.

"Then he has returned the Light to us." Ignis states, saying what they all felt.

"A King at last." Gladio gruffs, never able to articulate his feelings very well, yet the other two understood the compliment he was attempting to pay their deceased friend.

Silently, the three of them stride purposefully to the foot of the staircase below the throne; their eyes never leaving the body of their King.

They stand side by side at the foot of the stairs - Gladio on the right, Prompto in the middle and Ignis on the left - neither sure what to say or do next. In the end it was Gladio who broke the silence.

"Hmph... Sorry we didn't get round to building a Royal Tomb for you _Highness_." Gladio smiles, readjusting his grip on the handle of the huge broadsword he was holding across his back.

"Y... Yeah." Prompto repeats his earlier stutter, then hangs his head and squeezes his eyes shut as he balls his fists by his sides, squeezing the handle of his gun. The friends had lost access to the Armiger now that the last magic user had died.

"Not to worry...." Ignis tried cheerfully, "Our Noct never did like those 'musky old tombs' anyway." The blind man turns his head and smiles lopsidedly at his friends.

Prompto pumps his fist into the air, "You're right!" he grins from ear to ear - although he kept his gaze level with the staircase, not looking at his friends or his dead King.

"Say, anybody know where they buried Regis?" Gladio asks thoughtfully, looking at Ignis. Prompto shook his head and gazed at Ignis too.

"If the rumours are correct.... The late King Regis was given a pauper's burial in the Citadel's grounds. Paid for by the Empire no less." Ignis answers, cupping his chin in his gloved hand as he tries to recall the details.

"Hmph." Gladio grunts his disapproval.

"Should we.... I don't know.... bury them together?" Prompto asks, looking down at the floor again and squeezing his eyes shut as if frightened of the answer. A couple of silent tears rolled down his freckled cheeks. He made the smallest sob but Ignis still heard it and placed his gloved hand on the younger man's shoulders. 

"I don't see why not." Ignis continues his chipper charade to lift the other men's spirits.

Gladio looks from Ignis to Noct's body. "Stay here," he commands the other two, "I'll go get him."

However, he only made it up two steps before a soft, shaky voice sounded behind him.

"No."

The Shield turned to face the Gunslinger, whose blue eyes were ablaze with watery determination. Walking up the stairs and overtaking Gladio, Prompto says "I'll get him" without so much as a backwards glance at the other two. Ignis remained where he was, listening and sensing the movements of his friends.

Placing his gun in a thigh holster, Prompto rubs his gloved hands together before seizing King Regis' sword by the ornamental handle and pulling it out of his best friend's body. Dropping it and ignoring the weapon as it loudly clattered to the floor, Prompto caught Noctis with his arm as the dead King fell forward once he was released from his father's blade. Blood lazily dripped onto the gunslinger's uniform; it wasn't as much as he expected, but that was because Noctis had already bled out while the others were cleaning up the daemons outside - as evident by the blood all down his black suit and from the coagulated pool of the crimson-black liquid at his feet.

The blonde man wrapped his arms around his best friend's corpse and - for the first time since they broke camp last night - he let the tears fall freely and the sobs come openly. All that could be heard echoing around the destroyed room was Prompto's primal howls as he mourned the loss of the best friend he had ever had; knowing it was going to happen to fulfill the prophecy didn't dampen the way his heart was shattering. However, he could only let the sobs rack his body for so long until Gladio placed a gloved hand on his shoulder, signalling it was time to move on. Ignis had stayed rooted to the spot, tears falling from his unseeing eyes upon hearing Prompto break. He knew this was coming from the vision Pryna had shared with him, but it still felt like his world had ended. For the guest time since sacrificing his eyes to the Lucii, Ignis was glad he could not see Noct's fate.

"Alright kid that's enough." Gladio softly says. He had already made his way up the stairs, leaned his greatsword against the wall and hung his trench coat over it so his hands were free. Moving aside, Prompto wiped his face as Gladio pulled Noctis up in a bridal carry.

"Sorry buddy." the big man whispers to his dead lifelong friend, then he carries him down the stairs with Prompto close behind and Ignis following suit as they left the Throne Room.

They made their way in silence to the marble elevators and rode in equal silence to the ground floor. Upon exiting, the three friends knew to turn right rather than left as they made their way to the back of the Citadel and into its grounds. The sun was peeking out over the horizon, splashing the sky in shades of pink and orange. Noct's last gift to his people.

"Noct always hated this time of day." Ignis mused with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, always got grouchy when we had to wake him." Prompto giggles.

"You weren't much better!" Gladio gently pokes fun at the blonde, earning a playful angry glance from the gunslinger.

"Well... Here we are." Prompto says, his tone dropping considerably. The other two stopped in their tracks.

The earth look undisturbed, but the late King Regis CXIII had been dead a decade already. The only reason Prompto could tell this was where he lay was because there was a lone blue syllelblossem on the ground next to a shattered shard of crystal.

"Huh... I'm not surprised by anything anymore." Gladio grunts, laying Noctis' body on the dew covered grass as all three friends dug with their bare hands next to the spot where the syllelblossom laid.

Prompto explained to Ignis about the marker and Ignis mused that the Lucis Caelum and Nox Flueret line must still be watching over them all. It gave all three men a sense of comfort. The digging took an hour, maybe two, and Prompto along with Ignis had removed their trenchcoats and Gladio had removed his shirt. All three of them had removed their gloves for the dirty task, and were sweaty from the effort.

Prompto stopped just as he was heaving dirt out of the deep hole in the ground and looked panicked.

"We haven't got a casket!"

"..... Little late for that." Ignis replies solemnly.

"Yeah." Gladio mournfully agrees.

So they continued digging, and eventually they had a grave wide, long and deep enough to lay their King to rest. Ignis laid his Kingsglaive trenchcoat at the bottom, Gladio laid Noctis on top of it and Prompto covered his best friend with his own trenchcoat. Climbing out to join the other two, the three men stood staring at their covered King's corpse.

"So... uh... anybody want to say a prayer?" Prompto asks.

"Who would even listen." Gladio's shoulders slouched.

"They got what they wanted." Ignis said curtly, the venom in his voice towards the Six surprising his friends.

They stood for a while longer with their eyes closed, all three of them running their favourite memories with Noctis through their minds. Not a sound was made, even the wind had died down. As the expression goes, you could've 'heard a pin drop'. But it wasn't a pin drop they heard. They didn't hear anything at all. Rather, they _felt_ something.

A warm breath of air blew at them, and something small kept softly stroking against their exposed skin.

Gladio's eyes snapped open whereas Prompto opened his in a more dreamy style. Being unable to see, Ignis held his hands up and caught the tiny tender menaces that kept gracing the mens' skin. He caught one in his fist then slowly opened his fingers. Prompto and Gladio were already smiling as they waited for Ignis to realise what they were seeing. Using his other hand, Ignis gently ran a finger over the delicate item in the palm of his hand. The corner of his mouth pricked up in a knowing smirk.

"I never thought I would feel such fragility ever again." he muses to himself. For there, resting innocently in the palm of his hand and gently raining from the sky, were dark blue syllelblossem petals.

"I guess Lady Lunafreya sends her regards." Gladio chuckles.

"I hope Ravus found his peace too." Prompto says honestly, ever the one to wear his heart on his sleeve.

"I daresay they are together as we speak." Ignis smiles.

Then as soon as the petal shower had started, it stopped. The three best friends took this as their cue to bury their King. Burying him was quicker than digging the grave, and all three of them felt a sense of calm and peace settle over them. The syllelblossems helped remove the empty feeling aching in their chests. Their King and Queen were still watching over them.

Finishing their task, the three men stand at the foot of their King's and their King's father's graves. They decided amongst themselves that this was all they could do for now, and that real headstones would have to wait until things in the city of Insomnia got back up and running.

"Well... he did tell us to walk tall." Prompto says, reiterating Noct's final words to his friends before sacrificing himself to bring the dawn back to Eos.

"And you know what they say about obeying the King's final request." Gladio mutters, referencing the tradition commonly followed in Lucis.

"Let us go." Ignis says calmly after a few seconds. Having nothing left to do, they say their goodbyes to the two Royals lying before them and collect their discarded gloves before making their way back into the Citadel; their emotional burdens considerably lightened.

Coming up to the back entrance of the Citadel, Ignis suddenly shouts "Stop!" from behind the other two.

"What's up Iggy?" Gladio turns to face his blind friend. Prompto silently turns too, waiting to see what was bothering his friend.

"Do you hear that?!" Ignis asks hurriedly, his hand outstretched to the other two in a 'wait' motion.

The other two listen but hear nothing, yet Ignis does not move.

There it was! All three men bristled at the sound.

"But... But I thought the stables hadn't been used for years?" Prompto asked out loud.

"They haven't." Gladio answers, "Iggy?"

"No... Not to my knowledge." Ignis answers, "Let's go check shall we." And with that, their itinerary changed to the Citadel's stables.

The unmistakeable smell of a chocobo hit their noses as they approached the stables, and with every 'kweh!' sound ringing in the air, Prompto's excitement grew. The large stable doors were left wide open, and fluorescent lights were lit overhead inside. Hay was piled everywhere and there was a huge bag of 'Premium Gysahl Greens' next to the one occupied stable. Prompto ran to the only occupied space as soon as he caught sight of the bird within.

It was the black chocobo chick they had rescued all those years ago, all grown up. And tacked to her locked stable door were lots of little photographs. Prompto took them down and studied them.

One was of them ten years ago when they carried the egg to the Regalia with the intention of transporting it from the Vesperpool back to Wiz's Ranch. The second was one of her as a chick bonding with the yellow chicks in the Ranch. The third photo was her here inspecting her new stable - she was a lot smaller back then.... But it was the fourth and final photo that made Prompto's blood run cold. It was a 'selfie' style photo of Ardyn Lucis Caelum grooming the now-grown chocobo. He must have watched them right from the start when they rescued her to have these kind of photos.

"G-Guys..." Prompto's shakey voice breaks the silence.

"What's up?" Gladio asks, taking the photo from Prompto. He doesn't make a sound either, he just looks up at Prompto with confusion on his face.

"What is it?" Ignis asks, then Prompto tells him. While he's explaining, Gladio's playing with the photo in his large hands. Suddenly he spots something.

"Hey there's something written on the back." he says, not giving them a chance to answer him before he reads it out.

_Please take care of her. Her name is Aurora_

Prompto almost bursts with excitement and throws open the stable door to wrap his arms around the tame bird's neck.

"You know what they say, we must honour our King's last request!" he giggles, nuzzling the bird's feathery neck.

"The first and last Kings of Light, I see no reason we cannot honour them both despite past transgressions." Ignis smiles, the happy little kwehs Aurora was making pleased his ears.

"I still can't believe that guy was royalty, or that he had a soft spot for chocobos.... but tradition is tradition. Think Wiz's Ranch is still open?" Gladio asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Even if it's not, we'll sort it!" Prompto chirps, his face cracking into the first genuine hearty smile since Noct first returned to them in Talcott's truck.

"Let's be on our way then," Ignis smiles, feeling a surge of energy, "We have much to arrange. Both Kings gave us back the 'dawn' in their own respective ways."

They may have lost Noctis, but they were going to make him proud by rebuilding Lucis. And they had Aurora as a living memory of their adventures together. And Ardyn of all people had been the one to rescue her. They would walk tall and care for Aurora.

Just as their Kings would want.


End file.
